Doctor Suhail molested teenage mother as she was breastfeeding her baby

A tribunal heard Dr Suhail Habib held the ‘scared’ 17 year old’s breast for up to three minutes at north Manchester general hospital.

Dr Suhail a children’s doctor molested the teenage mother as she was breastfeeding her new born baby.

The Dr first massaged the 17 years old’s back and then held her breast in his hand for about three minutes

The victim who cannot be named for security reasons and in only known as patient A was too scared to say anything at the hospital.

She later told her partner who called police.

The alleged incident occurred just hours after Patient A had given birth prematurely.

The premature baby was kept in a cubicle on the labour ward where Dr Habib was on duty

Patient A was with the baby in the cubicle when Dr Habib entered started asking questions from the patient

Dr Habib denies the allegations, he says there may have been a slight contact with the girl’s breast while he passed the baby to her.

He was questioned by police but not charged with any offences in connection to the complaints.

In a statement the patient said: “I wasn’t wearing a bra and the doctor came to see the baby. The baby was on my chest and he asked for a look. He looked at the baby just for two minutes then he gave her back to me and I put her back on my chest. The baby was hungry and I was feeding her and the doctor said ‘partner’.

“He just said ‘partner’ so I said, ‘he is fine’. In my mind he meant ‘is your partner okay?’ Slowly he came closer to me and he started rubbing my back. I didn’t have a bra on, I had a gown on but then he started rubbing my back slowly and my body started feeling it wasn’t right and I was a bit scared. I couldn’t call the midwife because there was too many things going on.

“Slowly his hands came through to my breast and he started holding my breast. Then when he started holding my breast I was more scared. You don’t expect a doctor to do these things. If the doctor wanted to see me the midwife should have come with him, not just the male doctor.

“Then it feels like he is coming closer to my cheeks when he was holding my breast. He stayed about five or ten minutes then said ‘ok, my colleague is going to come and see the baby’. The doctor then came the next night and asked how the baby was doing but I was angry with him and what he had done to me.

“I spoke to him in a rude way, he could tell he had done something wrong. I said the baby is fine but I didn’t even look at him. I started to look at his badge for his name. I told my foster mum on the phone because I was so scared thinking what has he done to me? When someone touches you and you don’t feel right, especially when they are a doctor. I didn’t want my partner to go after the doctor.

She added: “I felt like I was telling him I know how to breast feed and if there was anything to know about breastfeeding the midwife could tell me. I put the baby back in my arms when he gave me it back. He was wearing really strong perfume, when he went I could smell it on my clothes.”

Sharon Beattie, lawyer for the General Medical Council said: “Patient A was afraid and somewhat anxious and she was still only 17. It is clear that at times the account given by the complainant has been confused – but the core of the complaint is the same – that Dr Habib put his hand on her breast, both on it and under it and this touching was deliberate and not accidental.

“She says he did not introduce himself and asked her about her partner. She felt at one point the interest he was displaying was more in her than in the baby. She recalls words to the effect that her partner was fine. She can’t recall precisely the words he used but she does recall feeling that he was more interested in her than the baby.”

“What is clear is that at some point the baby was on her chest and she started feeding it. A note from the doctor refers to the baby being breast fed. She recalls that when she had the baby at her breast Dr Habib started touching her back.

“He was very close to her – so close she could smell his aftershave and the way he touched her back was not a simple gesture, it was a rubbing action and continued for a while. Possibly around four minutes. The way it was being done was as if her partner was doing it. Dr Habib subsequently went to say he gave her a tap or pat on the back to encourage her to breast feed.

“What happens then is he slid his hand across her back under her arm and touched the side of her breast and moved his hand further round to underneath her breast and his hand remained under her breast.

“She recalls feeling this was not right and she felt like telling him to move away and stop. She wanted to say something but she couldn’t say a word. She didn’t say anything to the hospital staff but what she did do later was ask if they knew his name.

He denies misconduct charges which allege his behaviour was sexually motivated.